Roger Stone got arrested today and will be in court in Ft. Lauderdale today. It is about time. I just wonder about the others who were at Arie's show( MSNBC) who he dealt with when it will be their turn. Also it is time for Mueller to get Kussner into court. My impression is that Mueller is kind of hesitant to really grab the whole Trump clan and is waiting for the right moment. But yeah, dealing with the "mob" is quite a bit different than any normal Government wrongful act.

Mueller seems to have a strategy going after the little fish first to make the case on the record before going after the big fish. He must have mountains of evidence from Michael Cohen, and as he fills in the loose ends with the smaller fish like Roger Stone, his cases against Trump, Kushner and the three Trump children gets stronger.

There are all these "obstruction of justice" and "witness tampering" charges related to the Wikileaks e-mail hacking that are coming out now, but in the end the unrelated Russian money laundering charges against Trump and his family will be huge if he can prove them. The banks need to cooperate in that respect...at least one is resisting in that "secret court".

The wheels of justice sure turn slowly, but they are turning. Maybe, eventually, Mueller will have all of the crooks and mobsters rounded up before 2020? I hope. And what about Pence? He's been there all the time, nobody can tell me that he knew nothing, he had to be in the thick of it.

The New York Times published a lengthy article about him this morning. What I found especially interesting was the listing of all the people who had been charged in the investigation so far. I counted 39 individuals, some of whom are Russians.

Stone was charged with 7 counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, making false statements, and witness tampering. Since Trump is also guilty of all three of these things, he should be VERY nervous.

I agree with some of the other comments on this thread that some of the people closer to Trump (Kushner?) may also wind up getting named for various crimes. The only comment that I would add is this:

A few phrases in this morning's Washington Post article should make your ears wiggle:

***************************************************************

After the July 22, 2016 release of stolen DNC emails by Organization 1, a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign. STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1.

The passive voice there is notable. Someone “directed” an unnamed “senior Trump campaign official” to contact Stone about any releases forthcoming from WikiLeaks that could damage Clinton.

“It states that someone, possibly Donald Trump, ‘directed’ a senior campaign official to initiate this relationship to learn about future releases.”

For instance, the indictment says that in early August 2016, Stone received a tip from “Person 1,” an unnamed political commentator who was in touch with him throughout the campaign, that WikiLeaks was planning a “very damaging” email dump that apparently would raise serious doubts about Clinton’s health. That person told Stone it would be a good idea to float the idea that Clinton was unwell, because this would be the “focus” of the “next dump.”

It’s worth noting that the Trump campaign did then raise doubts about Clinton’s health. In mid-August, Trump gave a speech in which he suggested that Clinton “lacks the mental and physical stamina” to take on the Islamic State.

You guys apparently have got your wires all messed up. According to the true facts on Fox News, the only person more innocent and truthful than Roger Stone, is Donald Trump. And Fox News has been fact checked by Rush Limbaugh and Ann Colter, who were fact checked by Fox News, who got their facts directly from Roger Stone.

Dockadams -- Yes a pardon could be interpreted as an obstruction of justice if Roger Stone or Paul Manafort has information that would implicate Trump himself. Furthermore, as I understand it from all the TV experts, if Stone (or Manafort) is pardoned, Mueller could still require him to testify under oath, and he also would lose the right to plead the 5th Amendment to avoid answering questions.

If he refused to testify after being pardoned, then the courts could charge him with contempt, and I suppose theoretically Trump could pardon him for that later crime as well. But that scenario would get another charge of obstruction of justice against Trump assuming a sitting president can be indicted.

The Supreme Court would likely have to rule, and who knows what they might do.

Well, we know the SCOTUS has a biased right slant. IMO, they'll rule that a sitting or past-future presidents are immune from prosecution and the only way to get to trump would be impeachment proceedings, but as we know, that would take an act of congress, and not all would be onboard with that. Unless of course trump is reelected in 2020 and democrats gain control of the senate too. I'd like to see McConnell eat some crow for a change. I'm saying this because congress can't even agree on funding the gov't. to keep it open, the congress is still broken. Still very much divided.

Schmidt Wrote: The only question that remains: When will Trump pardon Roger Stone? Stone didn't act like someone that would be going to jail.

The way Stone is acting, he is 100% confident that no crime has been committed or he knows so much and can prove it, that the only option Trump has is to pardon Stone to keep him quiet. If Stone has a smoking gun in his pocket, it is equal to a get out jail free card.

TJ -- Yes, the NYT articles focuses on the possibility of encrypted conversations between Stone and "Guccifer 2.0" the Russian hacker on WhatsApp. I use WhatsApp quite frequently in corresponding with family overseas, and didn't know those conversations and pictures cannot be accessed except from my cell phone.

My only other thought is that if Roger Stone was smart, he would have taken measures long time ago to have these conversations erased from his devices (if that's possible). He's been a target for quite a while, but maybe he is just too complacent (and stupid) in knowing that his friend Donald will take care of him.

In all of these early morning raids on the homes of Stone, Cohen and Manafort, the feds have hauled away truckloads of files and electronic devices. What they uncover from these treasure troves of information is more reliable in court than disputed "he said, she said" or "I can't recall" conversations that allegedly took place.

As the NYT suggests, it will take months to sift through this information (assuming they can get passwords) and the Mueller investigation will drag on for many more months.

TJ -- Yes, the NYT articles focuses on the possibility of encrypted conversations between Stone and "Guccifer 2.0" the Russian hacker on WhatsApp. I use WhatsApp quite frequently in corresponding with family overseas, and didn't know those conversations and pictures cannot be accessed except from my cell phone.

My only other thought is that if Roger Stone was smart, he would have taken measures long time ago to have these conversations erased from his devices (if that's possible). He's been a target for quite a while, but maybe he is just too complacent (and stupid) in knowing that his friend Donald will take care of him.

In all of these early morning raids on the homes of Stone, Cohen and Manafort, the feds have hauled away truckloads of files and electronic devices. What they uncover from these treasure troves of information is more reliable in court than disputed "he said, she said" or "I can't recall" conversations that allegedly took place.

As the NYT suggests, it will take months to sift through this information (assuming they can get passwords) and the Mueller investigation will drag on for many more months.

Yes Schmidt, your last line worries me the most; in the meantime this country gets ruined even more by Trump and his mafia clan; it is time that people like Ross stand in line for food stamps (preferably lifetime jail)

Quoting Corsi: "I will be happy to testify if — I would suspect to be subpoenaed," Corsi told CNN host Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "And I will let the testimony fall wherever it falls. I'm going to tell the truth, to the best of my ability."

Corsi is not dumb. Mueller must have hard evidence on him and now Stone after the raid on Stone's house. Roger Stone talks tough "knowing" in his heart that Trump is going to pardon him. But what if Trump waits and lets Stone take the heat while sitting in his jail cell. Then Stone might also flip and when that happens Trump cannot be saved.

For now Trump seems to keep dangling the pardon carrot in front of Stone. Maybe he will be content to let him go to prison and out of the media limelight. Ha. That's what real loyalty looks like.